For the first time a US Secret Military Space Aircraft begins an unusual orbit movement (video)

A strongly classified US space forces plane called X-37B will soon start performing the aerodynamic braking maneuver to reduce its orbit. There is little known about the X-37B space aircraft, as well as about its mission in orbit. But Boeing, the creator of a secret project, has released a video that shows how the US Space Forces aircraft will perform a unique orbit maneuver for the first time, Space writes. In focus. Technology has appeared its Telegram channel.

Subscribe not to miss the latest and most intrusive news from the world of science! One of the most popular US aircraft, X-37B, which is currently rotating around the Earth as part of its seventh mission, will soon begin to perform the aerodynamic braking maneuver.

The fact that the X-37b will perform such a maneuver in space for the first time became known at the end of October, but the details of when maneuvering, no Boeing, the creator of the space aircraft, nor the US space forces that use it for their own purposes. provided. It is assumed that the maneuver of aerodynamic braking that X-37B will perform in the near future. The mysterious space aircraft first went into space in 2010 and with each new mission the duration of its flight increased.

At the end of December 2023, the aircraft launched SpaceX Falcon Heavy in an unknown orbit. In this way, the seventh secret mission of X-37B began, in which, according to the US space forces, testing of various space technologies is conducted. It is not known exactly which ones. Although it was reported earlier that with this aircraft the US military checks the impact of space radiation.

Also, experts in the space industry have previously suggested that in orbit military is testing new technologies that will help track the movements of any apparatus in low Earth orbit and observe their actions in space. Now Boeing, probably, decided to make the X-37B slightly so mysterious and released a video showing how the aerodynamic braking of the US space aircraft would happen.

It became known that such a maneuver is necessary to reduce the orbit on which the X-37B rotates around the Earth and to get rid of unnecessary equipment before returning home. In particular, the aircraft should safely dispose of the service module so as not to create new space debris. When ordinary companions in the Earth orbit need to change the trajectory of their motion, that is, to reduce their orbit, the devices make one or more starts of their engines.

To perform such a maneuver requires fuel, which means that when it ends, the satellite is either necessary to refuel or finish its operation. But in the process of aerodynamic braking you can save a huge amount of fuel. Instead, the spacecraft uses the friction of the Earth's atmosphere to move to a new orbit. This is exactly what X-37B aircraft should make. According to Boeing representatives, the plane will gradually decline until it is in a new orbit.

The video shows an aircraft similar to the X-37B, which changes its orientation in space during aerodynamic braking so that its nose is raised upwards from the ground, and the lower part of the aircraft is directed forward towards orbital movement. It can be seen that the lower part of the aircraft glows orange due to the heat released during friction of the aircraft and the earth's atmosphere. It is friction that slows down the movement of the aircraft.